Brookwood Medical Center plans to request more beds in its Center for Mental Health, which opened in January 2011. (Birmingham News/Linda Stelter)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- One year after spending $8 million to expand its psychiatric care department, Brookwood Medical Center is planning to add more beds to the facility.

The hospital next week plans to file a request with state regulators to add 19 beds to the 138-bed department in a move to meet high demand for psychiatric services, Stephen Preston, vice president for external affairs, said Friday. The hospital recently filed a letter of intent with the State Health Planning and Development Agency outlining the plan.

State regulators last year raised by more than 30 the number of psychiatric beds allowed in hospitals statewide. Letters of intent have been filed signaling pending applications for at least 70 beds, so many of the requests for new beds will be denied.

No other applications are expected from Birmingham-area providers, Preston said.

"We hope our expertise in mental health care gives us an advantage," and Brookwood will be awarded the beds it seeks, he said.

Brookwood is the largest private provider of inpatient mental health care in the state, and health care leaders have long said that Birmingham has dire need for additional beds.

The additional beds likely would be dedicated to care for older patients, and a "dual diagnosis unit" would be relocated from the new psychiatric department to the main hospital to make room for them, Preston said.

The reorganization would require only a small investment, he said.

After certificate of need applications are filed in advance of next Friday's deadline, the Certificate of Need Review Board will schedule a contested care hearing at which it will hear testimony and determine which hospitals will be awarded new beds. It's not clear when the hearing will be held, though Preston said he expects the CON Board to move quickly.